Why you can't get service from plunket line

Plunket line, a national operation, has increased its staff from 28 to 53 this month. That means that after they have been trained, 53 staff will be available to take calls next month. All are plunket nurses.

Given that 87 percent of calls were not answered last month, an increase of staff will still mean that most plunket line calls will still not be answered - estimated to be around 60 percent.

And here's the reason: All plunket- related calls to health line are put through to the plunket nurses manning plunket line. Currently plunket line and health line use the same 28 plunket nurses. Twenty eight nurses nation wide - so no wonder you can't get through to plunket line at the moment. Plunket nurses are too busy answering and calling back health line callers.

The 100 or so health line operators are not plunket nurses. It appears that plunket nurses service health line calls as a priority to plunket line calls.

This means that if you can't get through to plunket line and don’t know the health line number, you`re stuffed, as the health line number is not in the phone book..

If you know the health line number, you may be able to speak with a nurse, but if health line is busy, you can leave a message and a nurse will ring you. Every time a nurse rings you it means that another person finds it harder to get through to plunket line.

It's ludicrous. The merger between plunket line and health line happened in November and they are only increasing staff now.

Health line's phone number is not on plunket lines ansaphone as health line is not a national service - it only services certain regions. But why doesn't plunket line have a call back service like health line does?

It's because the Minister wants to get rid of plunket line and is quite relaxed about parents not getting through.

I find that quite unacceptable.